NCERT MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS CLASS – 12 | SOCIOLOGY PART B IMPORTANT QUESTIONS | CHAPTER-7 | MASS MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS | EDUGROWN |

In This Post we are  providing  CHAPTER 7 MASS MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS NCERT MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS for Class 12 SOCIOLOGY PART B which will be beneficial for students. These solutions are updated according to 2021-22 syllabus. These MCQS  can be really helpful in the preparation of Board exams and will provide you with a brief knowledge of the chapter

NCERT MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ON MASS MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS

Question 1.
What are the functions of mass media?
Answer:

1. Media provides all the information to the people about events which occur in the world.
2. Information related to administration reaches the people through media.
3. Media provides all the information of functions done by the Parliament and legislative assemblies.
4. Television spreads ways of living, eating habits and ways of behaviour of people of different cultures.
5. Media also teaches the people about their rights and duties.

Question 2.
What are the wrong impacts of mass media over the general masses?
Answer:

1. Companies are using vulgar scenes of females through means of mass communication to sell their products.
2. Sometimes, mass communication doesn’t show the actual picture of any event to the people.
3. Means of mass communication takes the young people in a world of dreams and takes them away from reality.

Question 3.
What is the contribution of means of mass media in the field of education?
Answer:
There is a great contribution to mass communication in the field of education. U.G.C. always runs its programmes on Delhi Doordarshan through which children and young ones are given an education. Except this, educational programmes for children are always being produced. U.G.C. always arranges programmes of higher education so that young people could be given information.

All these programmes are being telecast on Doordarshan. Except for Doordarshan, many other educational channels are running their programmes like the Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel, History Channel, Animal Planet channel, etc. The History channel always telecasts programmes related to the history of different parts of the world and these are very useful for children. Newspapers and magazines are helpful in increasing the knowledge of children. In this way, there is a great contribution to the means of mass communication in the field of education.

Question 4.
What strategies have been used to make the Indian language newspapers popular?
Answer:
Strategies for making Indian language newspapers popular – Indian language newspapers have adopted advanced use of printing technologies.

1. Provide supplements, pull- out and literary booklets
2. Consumer contact programmes e.g. by Dainik Bhaskar group
3. Door to door surveys and research
4. Glossy magazine supplements
5. National dailies publish regional editions in regional language

Question 5.
Discuss the means of Electronic Mass Media.
Answer:
The meaning of Electronic is anything which runs with electricity. The meaning of electronic mass media are those means of mass media which run with the help of electricity; There are two most important means of electronic mass media and these are Radio and television. Their brief description is given below:-
1. Radio (AIR): First radio programme was transmitted in India in 1924 by ‘Radio Club of Bomba/. In 1927, private transmitters also started their broadcast. The government took all these private transmitters in its hands and started to run them under the name of ‘Indian Broadcasting Service’ in 1936. It was given the name of All India Radio in 1957. Right now AIR broadcasts its programmes in 24 Indian languages.

The main objective of AIR is to entertain the people. Right now 208 Radio stations are working in India. Many FM stations also have been established in India in recent years. 98% of Indian population listens to the programmes broadcasted by AIR. In 1966, the Green Revolution took place in India. That’s why AIR started to broadcast rural programmes through its various stations. It also broadcast women and children-oriented programmes. It has been expected from Radio to bring changes in rural areas and the process of change is underway.

2. Doordarshan (Television): First television in India was started in ‘Aakashvani Bhavan’ in 1959 as an experiment. Service of Doordarshan, which is being provided by the Indian government, is one of the largest services of mass media in the world. In its earlier phase, it was being broadcasted thrice a week. But later on, it started to broadcast its programmes daily. The first satellite experiment in India was carried out in 1975-76. It was the first step to give social education with the help of technology.

The second television centre, in the country, opened in 1972. Many other centres started in 1973 in the country. In 1976, Doordarshan was separated from AIR and made as a new department. Colour television started in 1982 during the Asian Games at Delhi. D.D. Metro was combined with Delhi Doordarshan in 1984. Initially, D.D. Metro was broadcasting in Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras but later on, the telecast spread to the whole country. D.D. sports, a sports channel was started in 1999 to telecast different sporting events on television.

Now television is available to more than 10 crore people in the country. 87% population is within the reach of it and television covers 78% area of the country. Doordarshan has production studios in 49 cities of the country. Doordarshan telecast many educational, and entertainment programmes. Doordarshan rims many educational programmes with the help of U.G.C. and IGNOU.

Except these, hundreds of private channels broadcast their programmes to entertain the masses. Sony, Zee, Starplus, Max, ESPN, Star Sports, Ten Sports and many news channels telecast their programmes round the clock and are entertaining the people.

So we can say that electronic mass media has been improved to a great deal in the country. Not only Doordarshan but hundreds of private channels are there with which people are being entertained to a great deal.

Question 6.
Explain different agencies of printed mass media.
Answer:
Printed mass media is one of the important means of mass media. Printed mass media is also known as the Press. Different newspapers and magazines come under it. According to the Annual report of Press Registrar of2001, 51960 newspapers and magazines are published in the country. Out of these, 5638 are daily, 348 are published twice or thrice a week, 1858 are weekly, 6881 are bi-monthly, 14634 are monthly, 3634 are quarterly, 469 are annual and 1774 are others which are being published in the country.

Most numbers of newspapers and magazines are published in Hindi. Newspapers are published in all the major Indian languages except Kashmiri. Uttar Pradesh publishes around 8400 newspapers. Uttar Pradesh is also number one from the point of view of daily newspapers. Oldest newspaper is ‘Bombay Samachar’ in the Gujarati language which is being published since 1882.

Many news agencies played an important role in encouraging printed mass media in the countries and these are:
1. Press Trust of India (PTI): It is the largest news agency of India which provides news to different newspapers with the help of Teleprinter. It was established in 1947 but it started to work from February 1949. It provides its services in both Hindi and English. Now it has its own satellite system, with which it provides news to different newspapers.

2. The Registrar of Newspapers in India (RNI): Newspapers are allotted paper to print their news and this allotment is being done through this agency. It was established in 1956. It is necessary for all the newspapers and magazines to register themselves with RNI so that they could be allotted the paper from the government quota. In this way, this agency plays a very important role.

3. United News of India (UNI): United News of India was established in 1961. This agency has its stations all over the world. It has 76 news Bureaus because of which it is one of the largest news agency in Asia. It started its news agency in Hindi in 1981. It also started its Urdu service for Urdu newspapers in 1991 with the help o a Teleprinter.

4. Press Information Bureau (PIB): It is one of the important agencies which provides information on the government’s policies, achievements, programmes, etc. It has 9 centres including the headquarters. Delhi is its main centre and rest of the centres are situated at Mumbai, Chennai, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Guwahati, Bhopal and Hyderabad. Every type of facility of mass media is available in all of these centres.

5. Press Council of India (PCI): Press Council was established for the security of freedom of newspapers, to maintain some quality of news and to bring some improvement in them. It received 1250 complaints in 2000-01 out of which 1175 were solved.

Question 7.
How is our culture affected by means of Mass Media?
Answer:
Indian culture is based upon ancient traditions, customs and some of its other aspects. We can find shadows of ancient culture over our modem culture. But the different means of mass media have brought a revolutionary change in our culture. We can say that today’s culture is influenced by means of mass media. We can see the impact of mass media on different aspects of our culture. Our culture, values, traditions, etc. are changing rapidly. Changes are taking place in both the aspects of our culture i.e., material and non-material culture. Very quick cultural changes are occurring with the help of mass media.

Mass media is one of the features of social change of the modern world. Press collects every type of information and passes it to the general masses. Today, newspapers are a very important part of our life. Newspapers are not only popular in cities but are popular in villages as well. These are printed everywhere in the world. They can also be called as the guard of democracy. People express their opinion with the help of mass media. Newspapers play a very important role in forming public opinion.

Press and television not only raise their voice against corruption but they perform constructive work for the society as well. They perform welfare works at the time of any natural calamity. Mass Media informs the people about the equal status of both males and females. Newspapers and magazines also entertain people. We generally read new stories, jokes, news, etc., in them. We can enjoy serials, films, news, games, etc. on television.

Modern means of mass media gave rise to new cultural challenges. They help in bringing cultural changes. The middle class has emerged in the country due to mass media. Now backward classes are conscious about their rights. Now scheduled castes are raising their voice against the exploitation by higher classes. Means of mass media help in exchange of culture of different groups. We can observe and adopt other culture only because of the means of mass media. So we can say that our culture has been greatly affected by the mass media.

Question 8.
What are the evil consequences of Television in our society?
Answer:
Our life is influenced by means of mass media. Television not only entertains us, but it also influences the thinking and living style of the people. Their ways of living and eating habits are affected by television. This process of influencing is more in cities as compared to villages. In this age of globalisation, the evil consequences of television are emerging in front of us. Television not only changes our culture but it affects our culture as well, television spreads wrong messages of western culture, with which our cultural values are deteriorating day by day. Television exerts a wrong impact on our children although this is one of the important means of mass media.

When television came to India, then it was seen just to spend some time but now children spend a lot of time watching television. They hardly care about their study. Children tend to become violent if they watch any violent scenes on television. Young people start to imitate their ideal heroes and like to five their fives according to their characters of the film. Young people adopt the wrong path of success only because of mass media.

Mass media plays a very important role in the maintenance and continuation of the culture. Culture fives itself only because of cultural continuation. Increasing globalisation has greatly affected cultural globalisation instead of economic and political globalisation. Now people like to adopt the culture of other countries. Indian classical music has lost its importance because of hip-hop and pop songs. People hardly like our traditional dances. Different companies are using obscene scenes of women to sell their products. In this way, television has exerted a wrong impact on our life and culture.

Question 9.
What is meant by Mass Communication? What are its positive and negative impacts on society?
Answer:
Science and technology were developed right from the beginning of the 19th century. From that time onwards, means of mass media also increased. With this, the political and economic position of the Indian Society has also changed. Diversities in the Indian Society has decreased in modern times through means of mass communication and mass media.

Meaning of Mass Media: The word mass in ‘mass media’ is used for any community, group or general people of the country. On the basis of this, we can say that mass communication is different from other types of communication because it is related to the whole population. The meaning of mass communication is to provide information to the public through a number of means. In simple language, the meaning of mass communication is the means of printed and electronic media like newspapers, magazines, radio, Doordarshan, films, etc., with which information is provided to the people.

Indian Society and Mass Media: Mass communication has played many important roles as a means of collecting information in Indian society. These functions of communication have brought many changes in many sectors of society. Functions of communication can be divided into positive and negative classes.

Positive Impacts: Positive impacts of functions of communication are:
1. Entertainment Functions: Entertainment is the most important function of communication. People not only enjoy films but they also get knowledge from information provided by the mass media. Mass communication also helps people in giving information on different subjects like sports, crime, health, etc. Most people entertain themselves by watching television shows, programmes, serials, news, matches, etc.

2. Helpful in the process of Socialisation: Socialisation is a process of learning. Communication, in modem times, also plays a very important role in the socialisation of the children. Family, neighbourhood, peer groups, schools, etc. play their own role in the socialisation of the child. But mass communication also affects the behaviour of the child to a great deal.

3. Helpful in Cultural Continuity: Mass communication is the base of Indian culture. It is that means on the basis of which our culture is living in the modern age. Our traditional cultural elements are losing their importance due to the changed circumstances and due to western culture. These traditional elements are being shown to people through different programmes like many programmes of classical music and religious epics are being telecast through radio and television. Many programmes on the basis of Ramayana, Mahabharta Vishnu Purana are being telecasted. It is a different effort to establish continuity between tradition and modernity. In this way, mass communication helps in cultural continuity.

4. Helpful in providing Information of day to day events: People come to know about the day to day events through means of mass communication. They come to know about local, national and international events. With this, they also come to know about climate, political events, natural calamities corrupt and violent activities. People of cities and metro’s are influenced by events through means of mass media and get information about them.

Negative function or Dysfunction: Mass communication is a mean to provide information to the people. But many scholars have expressed that mass communication has many dysfunctions and they have criticised the means of mass communication.

1. Mass Communication is a means to provide information to the people but many times, wrong information is being given to the people which are far from reality. It means that means of mass communication portrays the wrong picture of reality which has a negative impact on the people.
2. People forget about his likings and dislikings in mass communication. He forgets about his personal interests and moves towards cultural unity.
3. Mass Communication also encourages people to migrate to other areas.
4. Producing hatred ness among people is also considered as one of the negative impacts of mass communication.
5. Females are used in a vulgar way by companies to sell their products.

Question 10.
How has mass media helped in cultural change?
Answer:
The modern age is the age of change. Change in any society and country depends upon social development and changes in means of information technology. Development and change in any country depend upon the change in ideas and point of views. Information is considered as necessary for bringing about change in society. According to a survey conducted by U.N.O., 70% population of the world is unable to get complete information, i.e., they are deprived of their right to vote. One ideology is developing in modern times that increases in production require knowledge, technology, intelligence and changes in ideas.

Means of mass communication like newspapers, magazines, etc. have greatly affected our social and cultural sectors. Social, cultural, political and economic consciousness has been aroused in rural areas just because of these means. Newspapers not only provide information to the people but is a very popular means of conveying people’s grievances to the leaders and government. Not only print media but electronic media as well, like radio and television has also influenced the Indian civilisation and culture. Information is provided to both rural and urban areas through television and radio. Farmers in villages can get information about new agriculture technology, new seeds and fertilizers. People listen to information about the forecast and programmes of public welfare. They also watch other programmes on television.

Cinema has greatly influenced Indian Culture. These days, films are made on the issues of social problems. A number of Indian films are based on social problems like caste system, exploitation of lower classes, child marriages, exploitation of women, poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, terrorism, etc. They clearly give the message that these problems should be rooted out of society. In this way, Indian cinema has greatly affected both rural and urban areas.

Yet, mass media is an important means of providing information but people are still unable to take complete advantage out of these. Only a very few educated people take advantage of these means. Most of the newspapers are of national or international level and local people are hardly interested in them. Films shown are from reality. Advertisements attract only higher or upper-middle classes in society.

Cultural values are also influenced by mass media. Mass media has given speed to the process of social change. Now people are receiving information about new subjects and places and that’s why new cultural elements are developing in their cultures. Daily ways of living, behaving, etc. are changing day by day. Now we are adopting western culture only because of the influence of mass media. It gave birth to many cultural challenges. Many people are associating themselves with their old traditions and the problem of imbalance has occurred between the new and old traditions. The association of old and new traditions has been made possible by mass media. So mass media helped a great deal in the cultural change of the country.